A symphony

I wish to ask you for some comments about a symphony that I am revising.

Originally written in 1996, it is a Beethoven-style work for chamber orchestra in four movements, as follows:

forma-sonata allegro

tripartite andante

tripartite fast movement based on a fugue (in the place of a scherzo)

forma-sonata finale.

It was actually my first composition, and as I had studied only solfeggio before, it came out full of ingenuities and mistakes (i.e. no legato markings, wrong instruments range, bad harmony etc.).

But it has always been close to my heart. Therefore last year I started to revise it, in order to orchestrate it for a larger ensemble and to turn it into a professional, real-instruments-executable score.

I started from the last movement, the one I love more. You find in attachment the score in PDF and an MP3 generated using SIbelius.

I would like to know your opinion, positive and, more important, negative, about:

You need to get better sound so we can listen to it and hear the parts. Turn up the reverb. Adjust the instruments in the mixer so they are at midrange. It the highest level is 12 put them at about 7. Do you have instrument samples installed. I use Garitin Personal Orchestra. There have been other good ones suggested on the forum. You get better orchestral sound if you use orchestra sections not solo instruments.

Otherwise I hear some good melodies and structure. You need to work on accompaniment. Beethoven is a great place to start. The constant repetition of chords under the melody is too monotonous. Follow what Beethoven does.

In the opening the whole orchestra rests should be eliminated. You might use one grand pause at the end of a piece, but these sound like gaps in the playback. These are just some basics to get started.